' WEBSITE101: READING LIST
Reaching Great Minds Online
September 10, 2001 Issue #108
Mike Valentine, Editor, learn@website101.com
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By subscription only Welcome to the September 10, 2001 issue
WEBSITE101: READING LIST
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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==> Sponsor Ad: CoachMaria.com and ListChannel List Host
==> Feature Article: Information Wants To Be Free!
==> Guest Article: What if you had NO Competition?
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Editor's Corner:
WebSite101 is announcing a contest with top prize FREE
participation in CoachMaria's Ezine Course for the current
subscriber that refers just three friends or acquaintances
to the WebSite101 Reading List by forwarding your copy of
this issue. Easy right? Tell them to use the subscription
form on the WebSite101 front page right below the
testimonials, (Blush!) or visit http://WebSite101.com/arch
Enter by simply adding the following address to those you
forward the newsletter to to verify that you've done it:
mailto:ezinecontest@website101.com
I also want to recommend highly this course offered by our
sponsor this issue, Coach Maria. She is offering a seminar
to teach the basics of ezine production and editing. Then
we encourage you to consider hosting your new ezine with
the secondary sponsor, ListChannel. Website101 uses and
highly recommends that sponsor as well. Tried and true
resources for our valued subscribers.
Mike Banks Valentine
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FEATURE ARTICLE
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Information Wants to Be Free
by Mike Banks Valentine
From the Web2001 Internet and Mobile conference and
exposition at the Moscone convention center in San Francisco
August 4-8, comes an interesting set of keynote speakers
offered to attendees. Rather than major computer or software
company CEO's, we have commentators on our culture speaking
to a conference full of web developers and corporate
strategists charged with developing web initiatives.
One very important speaker was Dr. Lawrence Lessig, Stanford 
Law professor, speaking on the threat represented by corporate
interests to the creativity of the web. A creativity being
regularly squashed and supressed by legal wrangling and debate.
I attended Dr. Lessig's talk given to web developers at Web2001
9-7-01 and expected a lively debate when I visited his
discussion forum at the Harvard Law web site. To visit and see
posts over a year old is disappointing and worries me. I
purchased his book, "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace" at the
show and highly recommend it to all small business webmasters.
Dr. Lessig strongly advocates that creativity not be stifled by
intellectual property owners asserting control over software and 
coding of web pages. This basically represents a viewpoint (and
only in my own humble opinion, not Dr. Lessig's) in support of
Open Source computing and freely available content for the web
with appropriate copyright protections extending only a short
time to allow the compensation of the creator.
As a list owner that distributes content freely to web publishers
and a columnist that publishes in multiple small business forums
and portals around the web, I am disturbed by the control being
sought by information "owners" over content.
My list at http://yahoogroups.com/group/free-content distributes
articles written by small business owners to publishers of small
business ezines and web sites across the web. We have over 700
members, some representing very large distribution ezines and
high-traffic web sites with potential exposure approaching 5
million readers.
This approach allows exposure for the authors and results in
sales of products or services from their web sites. The method
of producing and distributing web content is an accepted means
of small business exposure for the little guy. Sometimes we are
infiltrated by publicists and distributors of PR for large content
"owners" seeking wider distribution and access to a small
business market segment.
This inevitably leads to threats from publishers of "affiliate"
articles for distribution. They are suddenly concerned that we are
using their copyrighted articles and book excerpts for purposes
other than those intended by the affiliate programs they are
connected with. They then threaten the list and the affiliates
posting their "articles" (read PR pieces) with copyright violation.
This is bizarre, frustrating and worrisome.
Is it free or not?
Another talk at this conference by Stewart Brand, author of "How 
Buildings Learn, What Happens to Them After They Are Built" who
is often quoted as saying "Information wants to be free". He
would be a welcome contributor at the "Free-Content" list and
would probably upset a lot of list participants torn between small
business ecommerce, copyright issues and other business concerns
about "ownership" and protecting that ownership.
Authors who contribute to free content request that their articles
only be used if their "Resource Box" is maintained and a link to
their site is listed. It is doubtful that any would persue violators
in court if that condition were not met, simply because most lack
the financial resources to do so. No money, no law suit. Simple.
Is it free or not?
Many small business writers online contribute to a long list of
article distribution/ announcement lists to gain the widest
possible exposure, yet several major web sites insist on owning
copyright to published articles. I regularly see articles posted
to the Free Content list that are later run by large webzines that
insist on copyright ownership when they run articles. They are
sometimes picked up from Free-Content or one of the other article
distribution lists. How do I know that? Because I know a couple
of writers that have not submitted directly to those lists, yet
they are published by them and lose copyright of their words!
Is it free or not? I can't believe those large ezines would take
it to court if the authors "violate" the copyright claimed by the
large ezines when those articles are used without their knowledge!
Get real guys. If we offer it free, you certainly can't claim to
own copyright as you haven't paid for it and have used the work
without notice to that author.
It is free, I still own it and you can't claim to own it just
because you published it without my knowledge. Too many publishers
are trying to operate on an old paradigm when the writers have
moved on.
Free content is Free content and remains so.
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Mike Valentine does Search Engine Placement for the Small
Business http://website101.com/Optimization.html
WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet
http://website101.com/arch/
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GUEST ARTICLE
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What Would You Do If You Had No Competition?
by John Colanzi
Imagine waking up one morning and you had no competition.
Well I hate to eliminate one of the internet's favorite
myths, but you really don't have any competition.
Before you tell me I'm living in a fantasy world, listen to
the facts.
Fact # 1
95% of internet marketers make no money.
Fact # 2
Most marketers are looking to get rich quick and get while
the getting is good.
Fact # 3
The majority of online marketers already know what to do.
They don't do it is because it's too much work. They know
there has to be a shortcut.
There's a story by Larry Williams the Super commodity
trader that could just as easily apply to running a
business on the internet.
In an interview Larry was asked, "Larry aren't you worried
that after one of your seminars your system will have so
many followers that it will no longer be effective?"
Listen to Larry's reply and I'm sure you can see why Larry
can teach his system to thousands of traders and most will
never make money.
<> "Most traders will take my system and make changes,
which they think will improve their results."
<> "The rest of the traders will use my system for a week
or two and switch to some other system."
So what happens?
Many of them can't understand why his system didn't work.
It didn't work because they either made enough changes that
it wasn't his system any more, or they never gave it time
to work.
The same thing happens online. A new marketer just knows
that he can market better then Terry Dean or Ken Envoy or
Allen Says.
Why follow their advice when he knows so much more than
they do.
Why keep marketing a product when you can hop on a new
program every week or two.
Well I'll tell you a secret. There are two times you can
make money with a product and you'll have little or no
competition.
When a product first comes out you'll make money, just
because it's new. After a few weeks every marketer on the
net will be promoting the same program.
Sales will dip.
What happens then?
All the "Get Rich Quick" boys and girls will jump ship.
Guess What?
95% of your competition has just jumped on their new
million dollar venture. You're on your own, with little or
no competition.
There are new opportunity seekers coming on the web every
day and as the news keeps announcing the economic down
turn, the rate of new opportunity seekers will continue to
increase.
They've never seen your program and low and behold you're
one of the few marketers still promoting it.
Pick a few of these gems that everyone has abandoned and
you'll have a nice steady income with little competition.
I'm sure you're reading this and saying, "John has gone off
the deep end."
Great! I like having no competition.
You can keep swinging for the fences. I'm happy just making
contact with the ball.
Wishing You Success,
John
http://johncolanzi.com/freeware.html
****************************************
Copyright (c) 2001 John Colanzi.
Finally revealed! Secret blueprint reveals a step by step,
easy to follow system for generating Internet Profits.
Order now and get FULL RESALE RIGHTS.
http://www.internet-profits4u.com
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Copyright © 2001 Mike Valentine
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Mike Valentine
WebSite 101
learn@website101.com
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